nked very knowingly and suggestively.
He kept within such bounds, however, as would enable him to swear that
he knew nothing and had said nothing, but his son had never felt more
assured of his father's sympathy. When at last the motley gathering
rendezvoused at Tim's house, Weeks, senior, was conveniently making a
call on a near neighbor.

It was Saturday evening, and the young May moon would furnish
sufficient light without revealing identity too clearly. About a score
of young fellows and hired farm-hands of the ruder sort came riding and
trudging to Weeks' barn, where there was a barrel of cider on tap.
Here they blackened their faces with charcoal and stimulated their
courage, for it was well known that Holcroft was anything but lamblike
when angered.

"He'll be like a bull in a china shop," remarked Tim, "but then there's
enough of us to handle him if he gets too obstrep'rous."

Armed with tin pans and horns which were to furnish the accompaniment
to their discordant voices, they started about eight in the evening.
As they moved up the road there was a good deal of coarse jesting and
bravado, but when they approached the farmhouse silence was enjoined.
After passing up the lane they looked rather nervously at the quiet
dwelling softly outlined in the moonlight. A lamp illumined the
kitchen window, and Tim Weeks whispered excitedly, "He's there. Let's
first peek in the window and then give 'em a scorcher."

Knowing that they should have the coming day in which to rest, Holcroft
and Alida had busied themselves with outdoor matters until late. She
had been planning her flower beds, cutting out the dead wood from some
neglected rosebushes and shrubbery, and had also helped her husband by
sowing seed in the kitchen garden back of the house. Then, weary, yet
pleased with the labor accomplished, they made a very leisurely supper,
talking over garden matters and farm prospects in general. Alida had
all her flower seeds on the table beside her, and she gloated over them
and expatiated on the kind of blossoms they would produce with so much
zest that Holcroft laughingly remarked, "I never thought that flowers
would be one of the most important crops on the place."

"You will think so some day. I can see, from the expression of your
eyes, that the cherry blossoms and now the apple blows which I put on
the table please you almost as much as the fruit would."

"Well, it's because I notice 'em. I never seemed to